This is a sponsored post by Menulog, whereby Menulog gifted myself with a voucher for use on their website in return for a review. We used the voucher in the payment for our order/meal and then paid for the difference. I would like to point out that the opinions in this post are my own. Also, thanks Menulog for providing me with the voucher and the opportunity to write my very first sponsored post. Woo-hooo!1

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[dropcap]Last[/dropcap] week, when I was sent an email from Josh at Menulog with kind and encouraging words about my blog and ideas on how to grow my audience (one of which was to review a local restaurant courtesy of Menulog), I was admittedly flattered and excited. Not just from the prospect of receiving a complimentary meal, but also the knowledge that my food blog is being appreciated and recognised by a wider community and other members of the food industry. 2

If you live in Oz – there’s a good chance that you already know about Menulog. If not, here’s a quick summary. Menulog is an Australian online takeaway ordering website/service that allows you to quickly and conveniently search for your favourite cuisine or restaurant in your local area and place your order (either for delivery or pick up) – all on the convenience of the one website. They also provide free to download iPhone and Android apps, so ordering takeaway via Menulog is now easier and more convenient for people on the go!

Menulog market and pride themselves as ‘No.1 For Online Takeaway’. They are Australia’s largest takeaway/home delivery website with 3500+ restaurants from around Australia to choose from, and their cuisine categories range from American to Vietnamese (and more). Here’s an infographic on how Menulog works and how they can benefit you. 3

The Menulog website is easy to use/navigate/intuitive and packed full of features to help make the process quick and hassle-free. The search feature in particular is fast and effective. You can refine your search by restaurant or dish, and further refine your search results based on cuisine, (delivery) speed, minimum order, promotion and rating. Placing and editing your order on Menulog is a cinch, and there are many restaurants that offer their customers with first order and loyalty discounts, meal deals, etc. We’ve used Menulog several times before, and can vouch that their service is convenient and efficient.

This time round – I wanted to order home delivered Lao food but as I suspected, there are no Lao restaurants that deliver to the Newtown, NSW area – so I had to think outside the box. Knowing that some Thai restaurants offer dishes similar to Lao food, eg sticky rice, larb and som tum – I decided to use the search by dish feature and searched for ‘sticky rice’ instead.

My search returned several results, and although most of the results were sticky rice of the dessert kind, eg – custard with sticky rice, some of the results were sticky rice as a side dish. After perusing the menu of all the restaurants that offer sticky rice as a side dish – bingo – I decided to make my order with Crocodile Senior Thai – based on their extensive and enticing menu.

Crocodile Senior Thai Restaurant is located in Haymarket, NSW – centrally located and a couple of suburbs away, so I was surprised and very lucky that they delivered to Newtown. Their menu is extensive and impressive, with several dishes reminding me of home, including – larb, som tum, sai oua, stir fried morning glory, etc and of course sticky rice.

After viewing the positive user reviews and rating for Crocodile Senior Thai on Menulog, and noting their generous 15% 1st order discount, I was almost ready to make my order. A quick Google search for Crocodile Senior Thai revealed images of their food and venue, and more positive reviews (including them being popular with the Thai community, and the food tasting authentic) – this sealed the deal and I was now ready to make our order.

As we selected our dishes on Menulog, the subtotal and total was automatically calculated – this made our choices easier. When ready, I entered the voucher code, paid the difference with cc, entered the delivery address details, etc and voila – our order was made and I soon received an eta and email confirmation. About a quick half an hour of waiting with drinks and laughter later, there was knocking on the front door, and our meal was presented by a cheery/friendly delivery gentleman.

The food arrived fresh and hot in their typical plastic takeaway containers. From the moment we opened each container, we were enticed by the wonderful trademark Thai food aromas that wafted from each dish. We could’ve happily left the food in their containers and served portions of each dish to our plates – but in the name of publishing a good/attractive blog post, we transferred each dish to individual serving plates/bowls. I’m glad that we did this because the food looks and tastes so much better this way!

Finally – after several photos (and I thank my lovely partner and our friend/dining companion AY for their patience), it was time to eat. I provided a quick explanation on how to eat sticky rice using our hands/fingers, and we then all eagerly dived in and enjoyed a wonderful Thai-Lao meal together. 4

Needless to say, our meal from Crocodile Senior Thai was delicious! It was one of the best Thai-Lao meals that I’ve ever eaten. My partner and AY were equally impressed and although some of the dishes, in particular the som tum was expectedly spicy, the combination of all the different dishes, flavours and components provided a wonderfully mixed/assorted meal. Some of the words we used to describe the meal were vibrant, fresh, flavoursome, spicy, uplifting, colourful, multi-layered and sophisticated.

The good word/reviews that I’ve read about the food by Crocodile Senior Thai is true folks! It really is delicious, authentic Thai dishes/flavours with some north-eastern Thai/Isaan/Lao influence. If you love tasty/flavoursome classic Thai dishes and if you’re looking for some dishes similar to Lao food (including sticky rice) – I highly recommend Crocodile Senior Thai.

Also, as the cold weather sets in Sydney/Oz and if you can’t be bothered cooking or going out for dinner – I recommend you consider using the convenient service of Menulog. Their user-friendly website and phone apps make ordering takeaway/home-delivery food online so much easier. Enjoy your meal!

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #5 Som tum with pu & pla-ra One of my all time favourite dishes (yes, I say this a lot, but som tum/tum som for me is like chocolate for others, although I do enjoy chocolate a lot too!). Packed full of saucy, savoury flavours – it’s a medley of fresh, crisp, crunchy som tum ingredients (shredded green papaya, carrot, snake beans, cherry toms, chilies, garlic, etc – pounded/mixed with salad dressing, including pu (preserved crab) and pla-ra (Thai fermented fish sauce – similar to padaek). Served with decorative salty, chewy, fleshy dried shrimp and chopped sweet, crunchy iceberg lettuce that perfectly tempered the intensity of the som tum. An intense mix of salty, savoury, sour, spicy, slightly sweet flavours that sparked, tingled and numbed the tastebuds with its addictive/burning properties. A very delicious rendition of this classic dish with wonderful homey, comforting pungent essence/flavours from the pu and pla-ra. It was not shy on the chili heat either. I’m pretty sure that you can request the intensity of the chili heat for this dish to suit your liking, but we didn’t (so this is their standard chili level) and I personally was impressed and satisfied with its intensity. Although our dining guest – AY – did evidently experience the chili taste in her mouth which she tried to cool off with quick repetitious open mouth breathing and slugging down an icy Guinness. This was a very impressive som tum that paired perfectly (like tea and biscuit) with the sticky rice. Flavour wise – this som tum was up there, and heat wise – it’s definitely above the middle mark! Many restaurants (and home cooks) can make a great som tum/tum som, but the folks at Crocodile Senior Thai definitely make a commendable one, as reflected by the array of other som tum dishes that you can choose from on their menu including ‘bamboo salad’ and ‘tum pork neck’. The som tum at Crocodile Senior Thai is highly recommended and it screams out authentic som tum/Thai food.

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #7 Larb chicken Apologies for the plating of this dish – I did it. I was starting to get hungry and hastily/carelessly tipped the larb from its container to the plate, hence the messy splatters on the side of the plate. Anyhow, besides that, the chicken larb was a very flavoursome and impressive dish that also screamed out authenticity. There was no lightness on the chili heat here either (in a good way). Although it looks like there’s a copious amount of chili flakes in the dish, it was not overly spicy. For me, it was just perfect, and no one at the table really complained, especially when it was eaten with the rices. The dish is a delicate mix of cooked minced chicken dressed with herbs (mint, spring onions, red onions etc), spices, roasted rice, lemon juice, etc and served with a side salad of chopped lettuce leaves. Another delicious, homey dish that flooded me with happy family meal memories.

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #9 Crispy pork with morning glory The crispy pork with morning glory was a deliciously sweet and savoury dish. Although there are chilies in it, the dish is quite mild, especially when compared to the bewitching som tum for example. The pork pieces were plump, fatty and succulent that provided a nice meaty/protein contrast to the morning glory/water spinach. The morning glory tasted as delicious as always – trademark soft, slippery, delicate spinach leaves and firm, rubbery, tubular, squeaky stems (in a good way) were soaked with juicy, saucy flavours. The dish reminded me of home and the morning glory specifically reminded me of mum’s beautiful garden where they grow bountifully. Such a wonderful, delicious and underrated veg!

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #12 Po tak seafood The po tak seafood soup was a lovely liquid/broth contrast to the other dishes on the table. A beautifully presented bowl of a medley of seafood (thanks AY for transferring/arranging the soup into the bowl so beautifully!). It is a broth of classic Thai seafood soup ingredients – chopped lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, shallots, chili, mushroom, seafood, etc. It’s a lovely alternative to the popular and ubiquitous tom yum soup. The po tak still packs a spicy punch (despite the deceptive clarity of the broth) and very flavourful too, although a little lighter and less sour than a typical tom yum soup. The seafood in this po tak were fresh, generous and a joy to eat.

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #13 BBQ chicken The BBQ chicken was sliced deliciousness of marinated, grilled chicken pieces – served with a side salad. Not sure how that one kaffir lime leaf got on the plate – perhaps, it was part of the marinate? Anyhow, this dish was totally mild – flavourful, sweet, savoury and tender chicken pieces. It was a lovely protein/grilled meat choice on the table that complemented the som tum and sticky rice combo/trilogy very well.

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #15 King prawn hot basil The king prawn in hot basil sauce was as delicious as it looks! A vibrant, punchy stir-fry in a hot basil sauce – this slightly spicy dish was a popular choice on the table. Oh, don’t worry too much about the vibrant/redness and extra large chili pieces on the plate. Yes, the dish and sauce does have some kick to it, but it’s not unbearable – in fact, it makes it more tasty and addictive. The highlighter orange, sweet, plump curls of prawns smothered in the sweet/savoury hot basil sauce were welcomed meaty nuggets and the chopped green bean provided a crunchy veg contrast. A moreish and popular dish that was a joy and easy to eat. Definitely a double yum here!

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #17 Chili sauce #1 Looks like a bath of chili heat madness (and oopsy – looks like you caught me use flash for the photos too), but this vibrant pretty bowl of thin chili dipping sauce was actually light and sweet with only a mild chili flavour. The red vibrant chili colour and seeds are just for show really. It was a lovely dipping sauce for the BBQ chicken and also the sai oua sausage.

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #18 Chili sauce #2 I think this ‘lil dollop was a standard ‘sweet chili sauce’. Looks thicker than the above chili sauce and somewhat innocent too. Not sure what dish it was meant to complement, and I don’t think anyone touched it, but it did provide a lovely colour contribution on the table. Check out those pretty spiral 6/9 shapes of the chili seeds.

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #19 A cute white blooming flower that my partner had just picked for me earlier in the night from a neighbour’s garden. So beautiful, delicate and perfect in every way. Not sure what it is as I didn’t see the tree it was picked from. Incredibly, it is magical too – white on the night, and the following morning it turned pastel pink – very special indeed!

Crocodile Senior Thai (sticky rice, larb, som tum, etc) – courtesy of Menulog #25 The next morning – although out of focus, our delicate white blossom morphs into a soft pink bloom – can you believe it – how magnificent! Next time – if you’re thinking about ordering takeaway/home delivery, be sure to consider using the convenient/efficient service of Menulog – their website is very intuitive and very easy to use!

By the way, there’s nothing better than receiving compliments and encouraging words about my blog, so please keep them coming, either via a comment or email. Such words as “I think your blog is awesome/the bee’s knees” are all very good and inspire me to write, research and ramble more, purely for your enjoyment. ↩

Menulog is the leader in their industry. Google search for ‘takeaway’, ‘order takeaway’ or ‘takeaway menu’ (as examples) will return results with Menulog at the top of the page. If you’re a restaurant that offers takeaway or home delivery service, and haven’t already done so, I recommend that you consider joining Menulog, especially if you’re a Lao restaurant! Joining Menulog has many perks, including no monthly fees, no joining fees, no contract period, 500 000+ unique visitors per month, etc. For more details on how to join Menulog, go here. ↩

Before eating sticky rice with your hands/fingers, you need to wash and dry your hands first. If you’re left handed, it’s ok to use your left hand – I am left handed and have eaten with my left hand most of the time and my folks/family/community have never complained or corrected me). To eat – pick up a handful of khao neow (sticky rice) from the thip khao (sticky rice basket) and place it in the other hand. With your chosen hand (usually the right hand), and using the thumb and the first two fingers as chopsticks (use the thumb as one chopstick and the first two fingers together as the other chopstick), pull/rip a small bite-size ball of rice from the large handful of rice – shape this small portion of rice into a flattened ball and use it similar to a piece of naan or pita bread to pick up a portion of your chosen dish – and then eat. That’s it. Repeat the process and enjoy your meal! ↩